using snow to design safer streets

17 Ave & 5 St SW

It will be a pretty simple post but that’s only because this sneckdown is so brilliantly simple. Here’s the view after a snowfall after most of the day’s traffic made it’s way through this intersection.

Note: An additional improvement has been made to the Cycle Tracks at this intersection since the below overhead image was captured by Google’s all seeing eye. Still, the improvement hasn’t really impacted the operation of it as far as this example is concerned.

The parking lane on 17th Ave’s north side before and after this intersection are all day and do not get eliminated for rush hour. Here are the curbs at the intersection currently.

When we add in the turn movements (in red), a clearer picture emerges as to why the space in unused. A slip lane handles right turns off of 5th and making a left turns onto it from 17th would send you the wrong way up a one-way street. Because of this, drivers have no use for the space left over by the parking lane.

By reclaiming the unused space we are provided with a shorter crossing distance across 17th Ave and greater predictability for motorists as to lane position within the intersection. Pedestrians crossing 17 Ave here would have on average an 18% shorter crossings with the redesign proposed.

This would be really cool thing to update in this year’s construction along the 17th Ave SW corridor.